LPI Community Experts Blog

The Latino Policy Institute (LPI) is a non-profit organization committed to generating and communicating non-partisan data on Latinos in Rhode Island. The LPI Blog is an extension beyond reports that brings important topics to life.

All Posts for LPI Community Experts Blog

At his high school graduation, Juan Pena stood out. He was one of those talented students who shined a little more brightly i

Central Falls, R.I. __ At his high school graduation, Juan Pena stood out. He was one of those talented students who shined a little more brightly in the already shining moment of secondary education.

“I had like three little strings on me [honor cords], and they only had two,” Pena says of his classmates, “And I wasn’t gonna be able to go to my dream school.”

The high-school senior was about to graduate Central Falls High School with a track record that gleamed with achievement. He was in the top five students accepted to Rhode Island School of Design for the upcoming fall. He had received a Gold Key award for his portfolio. He was a member of the National Honor Society and the National Art Honor Society. All these accomplishments proved disheartening rather than empowering, however, when he was the only NHS member in his class who wouldn’t be attending his school of choice.

When family and friends learned I would be interning at the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University this summer, I was met with confused looks and questions. I’m not Latino, the purposes of an ‘institute’ seemed especially ambiguous, and others wondered why a carefree smart mouth like myself was being allowed anywhere near public policy.

Honestly, I was a bit confused, too. Being the first intern LPI has had, my duties were still undefined when I entered the LPI office in Providence for the first time. My supervisor Anna Cano-Morales could coach me on the LPI “elevator speech” concerning its mission statement, but really, what would I be doing?